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Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Blog Tour: Last Bus to Coffeeville by J Paul Henderson

Today I am delighted to host my first part the blog tour for 'Last Bus to Coffeeville' Summer Road Trip with Paul's Perfect Holiday post. The other tour stops are listed below with some other great content and you can check back in on my blog on the 15th with a review. Enjoy!

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY

I’m not particularly fond of beach holidays; I can do them, but not from choice. I prefer visiting places with big scenery: the Red Centre of Australia, the South Island of New Zealand, Chilean Patagonia, and the national monuments and parks of the western United States. There’s something about nature: it’s usually free and nowhere near a beach resort.

I avoid organised tours. It makes travelling more expensive, but at least you don’t have to make small-talk. In my youth, when I was more adventurous and less concerned with comfort, I made more interesting journeys – to Turkey in 1968, and Iran and Afghanistan in 1971. I wouldn’t return to these countries today: Turkey’s too touristy, Iran’s lost its sense of humour and Afghanistan...well, where do you start? I’m figuring the American Restaurant of Kabul closed down years ago.

Egypt has its pyramids and tombs, Jerusalem its old walled city and Sydney its Opera House, but once you’ve seen them you’ve seen them; these destinations are one-trick ponies. Italy on the other hand is a country I can return to time and again. It ticks all the right boxes: good food and wine, beautiful scenery, historic cities and nice people. Why though, do Italians have to be so good looking?

If someone moved Monument Valley to Tuscany and the Great Pyramid of Giza to Umbria, and the Italians started to speak English, then I’d probably go there every year. It would be the perfect holiday.

Last Bus To Coffeeville

Synopsis

Nancy Skidmore has Alzheimer’s and her oldest friend Eugene Chaney III once more a purpose in life – to end hers

When the moment for Gene to take Nancy to her desired death in Coffeeville arrives, she is unexpectedly admitted to the secure unit of a nursing home and he has to call upon his two remaining friends to help break her out: one his godson, a disgraced weatherman in the throes of a midlife crisis, and the other an ex-army marksman officially dead for forty years.

On a tour bus once stolen from Paul McCartney, and joined by a young orphan boy searching for lost family, the band of misfits career towards Mississippi through a landscape of war, euthanasia, communism, religion and racism, and along the way discover the true meaning of love, family and – most important of all – friendship.

Charming, uplifting and profoundly moving, Last Bus to Coffeeville is a chronicle of lives that have jumped the tracks; a tale of endings and new beginnings; a funny story about sad things.

Last Bus to Coffeeville is currently only 99p on Kindle!

About J Paul Henderson

J Paul Henderson was born and grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire, gained a Master's degree in American Studies and travelled to Afghanistan. He worked in a foundry, as a bus conductor, trained as an accountant and then, when the opportunity to return to academia arose, left for Mississippi, returning four years later with a doctorate in 20thC US History and more knowledge of Darlington Hoopes than was arguably necessary. (Hoopes was a Pennsylvanian socialist and the last presidential candidate of the American Socialist Party). American History departments were either closing or contracting, so he opted for a career in publishing, most of which was spent selling textbooks, in one position or other, for John Wiley & Sons. He lives in a house in England, drives a car and owns a television set. And that's about it.Links